Who is Arvid Lindblad? The F2 Star Breaking Records on His Way to F1

How did Lindblad get into racing?

Lindblad was born in Virginia Water, in northern Surrey, England on August 8th, 2007 to Stefan and Anita (née Ahuja) Lindblad. And like with many other drivers, the affinity for racing came through a familial connection. His grandfather’s love for motorsports passed on to his father, Stefan, who took it a step further and pursued motocross as a hobby. Yet despite his passion for the sport, making a career out of it was not financially feasible for Lindblad Sr.

Yet as a child, Lindblad did not share his father’s love for motocross, despite it being his introduction to racing. As Lindblad himself recalls in an interview with Marcus Simmons of Autosport, “When I was three I got a motocross bike, but I didn’t really enjoy it. Then when I was five we did some rental karting [at the local Sandown Park track] and I really loved it, and it all kind of started from there.”

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Lindblad’s karting career and meeting Helmut Marko

Lindblad’s journey through competitive karting started in 2015. He began in the Little Green Man (LGM) Series and Kartmasters British Grand Prix as a Honda and IAME Cadet, and took part in the Super 1 National Championships with Zip Team by 2016.

While with Zip Team, he was coached by Formula E team Nissan driver and current leader of this year’s Formula E Championship, Oliver Rowland. With Rowland’s help and an eventual transition to the Oliver Rowland Motorsport team, Lindblad quickly found himself rocketing through various karting competitions at national and international levels. His first championship win was the 2018 LGM Series, when he was just 11 years old.

Across his karting career, Lindblad won six and finished among the top three in 22 total competitions. Some of his most notable results include winning the 2021 WSK Euro series, which has previously been won by Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris, as well as a 2020 WSK Super Master Series victory that caught the eye of one Dr. Helmut Marko.

In 2021, Marko–who has shaped the Red Bull driver development program into what it is today–arranged to meet with Lindblad and his father to discuss his racing future. The three met during concurrent karting and F1 events in Portimao, Portugal, and sealed Lindblad’s future as a member of the Red Bull Junior Team, putting him one step closer to the pinnacle of motorsport.

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Lindblad’s success in the junior formula series

Yet Lindblad would have to wait for another 18 long months before he got his shot in single-seater racing. In 2022, just one month after turning 15, Lindblad finally debuted with the Dutch team Van Amersfoort Racing in round five of the Italian F4 championship. Lindblad adapted to the jump from karting to F4 fast, scoring points in two of the three rounds he appeared in and amassing enough points to place him 17th out of 55 total participants in the championship.

He would spend 2023 in F4, as part of Prema Racing. With Prema, Lindblad took part in that year’s Italian F4 and Euro F4 Championships, finishing third and fourth overall, respectively. In a reflective chat in late 2023 with Red Bull Director of Rider Development and Media, Peter Clifford, Lindblad looked back on some of his achievements, commenting, “I would say that the best moments, the best weekend of the year was Monza in the Italian championship. I was on pole and won all 3 races. That was an incredible weekend.”

Performances like Monza showed the young driver’s immense talent and paved the way for a promotion into F3 the following year. Staying with Prema, Lindblad had a relatively successful debut season during the 2024 F3 Championship. He won the season opener sprint in Bahrain, and swept both the sprint and feature race in Silverstone. But it wasn’t all sunshine. Lindblad struggled throughout the end of the season, failing to score any points across the last three rounds in Hungary, Spain and Monza. Overall, he finished a solid fourth, taking the Teams’ Championship title with Prema teammates Dino Beganovic and Gabriele Mini.

And as for 2025? Lindblad is taking the F2 world by storm and breaking records left and right. With Campos Racing, he took P1 in Jeddah to become the youngest race winner in F2 history, but he didn’t stop there. During the latest round in Spain, Lindblad became the youngest driver in F2 history to secure pole position, an incredible achievement that he converted into yet another trophy for his collection as he finished on top of the podium once again. And after the first six rounds, Lindblad has not once found himself outside of the top 10. He currently sits third in the Drivers’ standings, a mere eight points off of the lead.

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When will Arvid Lindblad be in F1?

In 2021, a 14-year-old Lindblad attended the launch event for Lando Norris’s karting team, LN Racing Kart, at the Adria Karting Raceway in Northern Italy. While there, he bumped into Norris himself and, spurred on by a friend, went up to talk to the rising F1 star about his own racing aspirations.

“I said, 'it was nice to meet you and see in five years’,” Lindblad recalled saying in an interview with Sky Sports. He was, of course, referring to the prospect of sharing the F1 paddock with Norris in the future. And now it looks like he might be on the verge of delivering on that promise.

He might even be a bit early.

At 17, Lindblad already has the minimum number of points necessary for the Super License; the only thing standing in his path at this moment is age. And as he turns 18 this August, the fact that Red Bull is asking for the exemption suggests that they want him as an option for their F1 ranks soon.

In fact, Red Bull has been working towards this since before the current F1 season even began, having sent him to New Zealand at the start of 2025 to race in the Formula Regional Oceania Championship and bulk up his Super License points. On this, Lindblad explained, “Honestly, I don't know all the ins and outs of it, I was told ‘we want you to go to New Zealand, we want you to have the full Super License before the start of the F1 season.’”

This just further speaks to Red Bull’s opinions of Lindblad and his skills. The talent he has shown from his early karting days throughout his time in various junior formula series has put him center-stage as their next F1 prospect.

When exactly Lindblad will step up to the F1 stage with Red Bull is not yet clear, but one thing is for certain: it is definitely a when and not an if.